New high-tech gritters will be in operation across the South West this winter, helping to keep road users on the move when severe weather hits. 

Thirty-seven state-of-the art vehicles have joined National Highways' winter fleet this year across Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Bristol, Wiltshire, and Gloucestershire as part of a national £44m investment. Two were introduced in 2021/22 in the South West, taking the total of gritters operating across South West to 59.

Service Delivery Manager Julian Strong, who heads up National Highways' winter operations in the region, said: "We are delighted the rollout of our new state-of-the-art gritting vehicles is complete, with every machine in position and ready for the winter season ahead to help keep our road users safer on the roads, whatever weather conditions we face. 

"National Highways always strives to explore and embrace innovation to benefit our road users. These vehicles are environmentally friendly, have cutting-edge technological features and can treat road surfaces at a higher speed than older models.

"We now have a total of 59 vehicles ready to be deployed across South West and all of them will play their part in helping our autumn and winter operations team, including our drivers, to carry out their vital work over the next few months to treat the road surfaces whenever and wherever it is needed." 

The leading-edge Volvo Romaquip gritting vehicles are eco-friendly and will benefit road users with precision salt spreading and other technological advances including: 

• Enhanced performance: The gritters can travel at a maximum speed of 50mph when salt spreading - ten miles an hour faster than earlier vehicles – helping to keep traffic moving on the roads during periods of salt spreading.
• Eco-friendly: They are the cleanest and most efficient diesel heavy goods vehicles available in the UK, meeting Euro 6 requirements - the latest EU emission standards for heavy-duty CI (diesel) engines to reduce harmful exhaust emissions.
• Smart technology: On-board functions allow salting routes to be uploaded directly into the vehicle cockpit, assisting drivers with the latest information on where and when to salt.
• Precision spreading: Latest tech advances enable drivers to choose the most appropriate treatment in different road conditions.

Across the South West there are 19 winter maintenance depots and 59 gritters and two snow blowers treating a total of almost 1,047 miles of trunk roads and motorways.

There are more than 120 qualified winter drivers operating the fleet across the region and last year, from 1 October 2021 to April 2022, the gritters travelled more than 147,000 miles across the South West.  

Each gritter can hold 10 cubic metres of salt and all routes are designed to be treated within two hours.  

In addition, the region has 38 weather stations that provide real time information about localised road conditions, enabling staff to identify the best time to send the gritters out, working closely with National Highways' traffic officers, contractors and the emergency services. 

National Highways has invested £44m over two years replacing 252 gritters. It now has around 530 gritting vehicles which can be out on its roads in sub-zero temperatures helping to maintain the network and enhance its service to customers. This equates to one gritter for every eight miles of road. 

The 530 gritters includes 443 Volvo Romaquip gritting vehicles – all of which have been introduced through the replacement programme that started in 2018.  

These vehicles are based at 128 depots nationwide with a stockpile of around 280,000 tonnes of salt for the autumn and winter season.  

Stephen McKeown, Managing Director at Romaquip, which manufactured and supplied the new gritters, said: "Romaquip are very proud to deliver this project on time, and especially through all the challenges of a global pandemic. The National Fleet Team at National Highways, headed by Martin Edgecox, has been a pleasure to work with and together we have successfully developed numerous innovations in safety, environment, and operations.

"Realising these innovations in such a large fleet will result in significant measurable enhancement in winter service in the UK."